ABSTRACT
WHEN EVALUATING THE MERITS AND IMPLICATIONS OF TRANSITIONING TO A TCP/IP-CENTRIC IT INFRASTRUCTURE, it helps to reflect on the tale of the Great King Canute of England and Denmark (c. 1016) who tried to demonstrate to his adoring subjects that there were powers that even he could not control by showing them that he was powerless to stop the tide from coming ashore. Just as was the case with PCs and LANs, TCP/IP is now an unstemmable technological tide; possibly even a tidal wave. Whether one likes it or not, relishes it or fears it, TCP/IP is here to stay-and will dominate worldwide computing for at least the next two decades, thanks to the endorsement and kudos it gets on a daily basis as the sustaining force behind the Internet miracle.
